Recognising the role of Nigerian entrepreneurs in job creation and their impact on their immediate operational bases, Stanley Uzochukwu, chairman and CEO of Stanel Group, was part of the Federal Government delegation that welcomed an eight-member US Congressional delegation that visited Nigeria last week.
Other members of the Nigerian delegation included Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote Group, Tony Elumelu, executive chairman of Heirs Holding, Indimi Muhammadu, executive chairman, Orientals Energy Resources, and other Nigerian businessmen, at the US Consulate-General’s Resident in Lagos.
The US delegation was led by Senator Christopher Coons (D-Delaware), a member of the Appropriations, Foreign Relations, Judiciary, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Ethics committees.
The delegation also included Senator Gary Peters (D-Michigan); Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado); Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware); Representative Terri Sewell (D-Alabama); Representative Charlie Dent (R-Pennsylvania); Representative Barbara Lee (D-California), and Representative Frederica Wilson (D-Florida).
The US delegation, in their West Africa tour, visiting Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and The Gambia in addition to Nigeria.
While in Abuja, the US legislators met with a range of high-ranking leaders to gain a grasp of the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and the US, while they were briefed by Ambassador W. Stuart Symington and staff before meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate president, Olusola Saraki, speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, other members of the National Assembly, and the Nigerian business community, religious and civil society leaders.
Among the issues of particular interest to the US officials were the fight against Boko Haram and the humanitarian situation in North East Nigeria.
They also visited Lagos, where trade and investment relations took centre stage. And in Lagos, they met with Nigerian business executives, toured the Egbin Thermal Power Plant, participated in an American Business Council roundtable, and concluded with a reception featuring alumni of the Young African Leaders Initiative and the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
Also recently, and in recognition of Stanel Group’s efforts at creating jobs in Nigeria across the various geo-political zones, Stanley Uzochukwu, chairman of Stanel Group, was hosted by F. John Bray, Consulate General of US Embassy in Nigeria on his birthday in Lagos.
At the meeting, issue of expansion to create more opportunity for the teeming unemployed youth across the zones also took centre stage.
F. John Bray used the opportunity to commend the Group and to pledge the Consulate support to the Group to make unemployment a forgotten issue in areas of its operations.
Just last week, the Group launched the Stanel Tyres brand into the Nigerian market, in a ceremony conducted the Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano, in Awka, the state capital.
It could be recalled that Stanel Group recently commissioned ultra-modern luxury mega centre (Stanel World) for official take off of business activities in Awka.
The weeklong event, which started with a 72-hour non-stop praise in its Chapel, was crowned with a widow’s programme where Stanley Uzochukwu, chairman/CEO of Stanel Group, reached out to over 1,000 widows with cash and material gifts.
As part of the event was the commissioning of a 1.5 million-litre gas capacity plant strategically located between Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) and Anambra State Women Development Centre along Enugu – Onitsha Expressway by the Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano.
In his remarks, Governor Obiano thanked the chairman of Stanel Group, Stanley Uzochukwu, for coming home to put Anambra on the path of development, while assuring him and other investors enabling business environment throughout his tenure.
